"We lost six games last year by three points or less," Barnes said. "We paid our dues and deserved that one."

The Cyclones led for the first three quarters before the Grizzlies fought back to take the lead for the first time with 6:06 to go in the fourth quarter.

From that point on, the game had three ties and seven lead changes before Northside's last three-point attempt at the buzzer missed and the Cyclones escaped with the three-point win.

"Our kids got their composure back," Barnes said. "We finally started getting some boards. Both teams made some mistakes in the overtimes."

Northside's Chris Cravens dominated the second half, especially on the offensive end. When he wasn't shooting, he was getting offensive rebounds and putting them back for points.

He had a game-high 18 points, but was shutout by Russellville in the overtimes, which was one of the big keys for victory.

Only one Russellville player finished in double figures in regulation as Jordan Richmond had 10, but several players contributed in the overtimes and four ended up with 10 or more.

Richmond led the Cyclones with 14 points. Grant Feltner and Quinton Collins had 11 each, while Tracey Stiger finished with 10.

Northside had outscored Russellville 17-13 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 46-41.

The Cyclones struggled from the field at times in the fourth quarter and it allowed the Grizzlies back in the game.

With 3:28 to go in the fourth, Feltner had a big three that gave the Cyclones a 47-45 lead. Cravens would tie it with three minutes to go, but neither team would score again and the contest went into its first overtime at 47-47.

Ashley Coleman gave the Grizzlies a 50-48 lead by making one of two free throws with 2:35 to go.

Collins, though, hit a jumper from the free-throw line with 1:23 to go to tie the game up and it would go into the second overtime.

Feltner opened the second overtime with a three, only to be answered by Northside's Tom Black.

After Northside went ahead 54-53 on a free throw, the Cyclones scored six straight points. Grant Feltner ran the baseline for a lay-up; Collins beat his man off the point to go in for another lay-up and then Richmond, who had struggled from the charity stripe the past two games, knocked down two to give the Cyclones a 59-54 advantage with 42 seconds left.

Northside would get a bucket to cut it to three and then would steal the ball from Russellville with about 12 seconds to go. After a time out, the Grizzlies got the ball off in time, but Coleman's three clanked off the rim and Drew Dickerson came down with the rebound for the Cyclones to preserve the win.

The victory kept Russellville close in the AAAAA-West race. They are now 11-6 overall and 3-1 in the conference, while knocking Northside from the ranks of the conference unbeaten. The Grizzlies dropped to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

Three of the four conference games have been on the road, and Barnes is pleased to come out with a 3-1 record.

"Some coaches would have been pleased to go 2-2 or even 1-3," the coach said. "It was important to win after losing to Fayetteville. Last year after we lost to them at our place, we lost our next four."

Russellville will host Bentonville on Friday for Colors Day. The boys game will be at 6 p.m. and the girls will be at 7:30.

Girls: FS Northside 56, Russellville 40

The four consecutive state championship banners hanging in the Northside gym didn't intimidated Lady Cyclones as they gave a spirited and gutsy performance, but the Lady Bears had too much fire-power.

Fort Smith Northside came into the game with a 15-2 overall record and a 3-0 AAAAA-West Conference and were ranked number two in the state.

Meanwhile, the Lady Cyclones were 7-9 overall and 0-3 in the conference and owners of a three-game losing streak.

Most fans in attendance might have thought the game would be well in hand by halftime, but Russellville would make a game of it.

"These kids have so much heart," Russellville coach Matt Kordsmeier said. "We only had seven turnovers and they pressed us the whole game. That is just hard work and determination. They couldn't get the steals and get their offense going like they like to do. That is why we were able to stay close."

The Lady Bears' biggest lead of the first quarter was five points, thanks in large part to two treys by Chivis Merriweather, who led all scorers with 18 points.

Northside would lead 12-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Russellville's Hailey Wilbanks opened the second by making two free throws to cut the lead to 12-9, but that would be as close as they would get as the Lady Bears went on a 6-0 run.

The Lady Cyclones got the lead down to six points on a three-pointer by Wilbanks with 2:50 to go to cut the lead to 18-12, but two steals and lay-ups in the last 15 seconds would give the Lady Bears a 28-15 halftime lead.

Northside started to wear down the Lady Cyclones in the second half with their deep bench and constant pressure defense.

Russellville would get no closer than 10 points in the third quarter when Leanna Morrison got two of her seven points at 6:02 mark to cut the lead to 30-20.

The Lady Bears though would finish out the quarter on a 10-4 run to take a 40-24 advantage into the final quarter.

Northside would open the fourth with a 9-4 run to put the game away as they went on to win by 16.

Randi Rudder led Russellville with 10 points, including two treys. Amanda Van Es also connected on two threes and finished with eight.

Tandem Mays was the only other double figure scorer for Northside with 13 points.

"They've got a great team," Kordsmeier said. "I told the girls we were (real) close to making the shots I think we should be making. I told them after the game to keep working hard and be tough and those shots will start falling and we will be hard to beat.